Additionally, the six-month leases for evacuees living on cruise ships will end March 1, Garratt said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose state welcomed many Katrina evacuees, said: "We recognize and agree with FEMA's decision to make personal responsibility a part of the hurricane recovery process. However, my great concern is that there is still no long-term housing plan for the hundreds of thousands of Katrina victims who lost everything _ including their homes _ as a result of the storm, and come March 1 many of them may find themselves with no long-term housing options."
Housing advocates said FEMA has not given evacuees enough time to find homes and sign leases _ a process that can take months in rental markets already nearing capacity.
"It's a hell of a time to be telling people that they're kicked out a week after the holiday," said Doug Culkin, executive vice president of the National Apartment Association. He was referring to next week's Thanksgiving holiday.
"The coordination of this has just been horrible," Culkin said. "And we're just concerned that a lot of people aren't going to realize the predicament they're in until too late. People are not going to have adequate time to make plans."
In the last month, FEMA has deployed "strike teams" of federal, state and local authorities to meet with evacuees and discuss their long-term housing goals _ and how to reach them. Now, FEMA will assign 3,000 social workers to manage evacuees' cases _ a $66 million contract with the United Methodist Committee on Relief and the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster.
So far, FEMA says it has provided $1.2 billion in transitional housing assistance to more than 500,000 households displaced by the hurricanes.
The Red Cross had not seen details of the plan Tuesday, but spokesman Michael Spencer said "the time has passed for emergency housing."
"Interim housing is the responsibility of the state and federal government, and we have to assume they have a plan in place," he said.
FEMA officials still don't know how many evacuees in hotels have registered with the agency for housing aid, and it's possible that many will not qualify for direct rental assistance, Garratt said. Those who will not will be referred to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for help, he said.
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On the Net:
Federal Emergency Management Agency: http://www.fema.gov/
